Every once in a while, when I hear that whistle blow, I want to ride the rails! Not as a tramp, though- I want the air-conditioned, bathroom-laden, microwaved-sandwich sellin' comfort of Amtrak! They have weekly specials and many attractive destinations. And with only 3 different trains, 3 days of travel, and a couple thou, you can get yourself and a buddy from Seattle to Birmingham in a private room with meals included. Amtrak recommends going to Chicago to DC to Birmingham- though I'd like to swing through Louisiana on the City of New Orleans and swing out on the Crescent...
Or maybe I can set my sights lower and take the Empire Builder out to the Wisconsin Dells to see Circusworld and ride the Ducks...
A blog rating tool, Technorati. I may have to investigate their rating methodology- it seems to involve Google- the latest suspect in the "Dark Web Conspiracy" (which boils down to laziness- yes, I'm guilty, too.).
Here are some misc links from El Eduardo:
King Features, where he recommends Baby Blues, Mutts, Pirhana Club, Six Chix and Zits.
An interesting site to explore: Ethnolog, an anthropology blog. Far more actual anthropology than this blog.
Via boingboing, sympathy cards for pornography addicts. Unintentionally (but you never know) hilarious.
At the place where I work, I get emailed notifications from one of our customers when various services of theirs are not functioning properly. One of those services is called FAST, and for the last several months the customer has been having troubles with it being responsive. So, of course, nearly every day I get mail with subjects like "FAST is slow."
Here's the web version of the story about the male birth control study. It's no clearer, unfortunately.
Later note: The charming Mr. Setlow pointed out that of course it's no clearer than the tv report, it's just a transcript. Here are the things that I wish were clearer: there is ample proof that this method of birth control works, but not only is drug approval a slow process in the US, there are also disincentives for drug companies to shepherd new methods of birth control through the process. One: there are many birth controls to choose from, so you won't get the same money bonanza as if you focus on a one-of-a-kind drug. Two: Veiled and not-so-veiled threats from anti-birth control groups. And while many of the news items on potential hormonal methods for males focus on men's supposed squeamishness around taking hormones, none focus on the huge plus side: men would finally be able to control their own fertility on their own terms, with a success and comfort level higher than condoms. I think there are plenty of men out there who don't want a child or a paternity suit, many who want more assurance than their partner's word that things are "taken care of."
The PI reports that a Kent woman sold her baby at Fred Meyer (they really do have everything). The surprising twist? It was the Covington Fred Meyer.
In other news, "Hate Message Scrawled on Large Rock." This time, the twist is that it's a complete sentence involving multi-syllabic words. Huh.
Here is a short summary of the festival honoring Saint Sarah , also called Sarah la Kali, in Provence. I have not found this saint listed in any Catholic listings (actually, the only Sarah listed in any compilation of saints is the wife of Abraham, and I didn't think BC saints were strictly kosher). There is, however, even more to the story, as Sarah and the two Marys voyage from the Holy Land to arrive in France...
Another take on the veneration of Sarah la Kali, with some clearer links to the worship of Astarte and some additional confusion thrown in: there is mention of a Roma Sarah (Sarah la Kali) and a Catholic Sarah, who was "expelled from the church" and "didn't have a right to canonization". There also don't seem to be any records of the worship of Sarah la Kali before the mid 1800s.
There's an Economist article on the conflict between Nokia and Microsoft in the mobile phone arena.
What's the difference between crime and terrorism? What's the difference between crime and a hate crime? The effect is clearly different- terrorism and hate crimes are used to influence people beyond the scope of the crime itself. But can you define terrorism and hate crimes in a way that is useful in making fair laws? Is there any way to do this without criminalizing the state of mind the person was in when the crime was comitted? There are degrees of murder based on intent, could there be degrees of crime that included hate crimes? How can it be proved that a person intended to commit a hate crime if they deny it?
Anyway, I'm thinking about big issues today or something.
Next: What is love? Who invented liquid paper and why?
I wish I could read French better, because this site about Tintin parodies, pastiches and pirates looks really neat! Also, check out the nifty masthead and background picture.
Sure, a history of the changing face of Michael Jackson might seem to be harmless websurfing fun, but then you are taken on a train ride to horror town. And while looking at this, someone informed me that he is taking frightening public liberties with the safety of his child. Ew.
A surprise bit of actual info in the middle of the makeover of the site: the new book of the day is "Make Over Your Man: The Woman's Guide to Dressing Any Man in Her Life" by Lloyd Boston. Because the vast majority of men (estimated by scientists at approximately 90%) care far less about their clothing than the women who live with them. Unfortunately, since it is not written by a member or a woman who lives with one of that 90%, there is no chapter on how exactly you should go about convincing an adult male to play dress-up.
I hope that the Greymatter blog software will help this blog be happy and grow. I will also be playing with various options to make it prettier as well. More to come!